Preview

'Nazi consolidation of power in 1933 was primarily due to the use of terror and violence.' How far do you agree with this statement?

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
952 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
'Nazi consolidation of power in 1933 was primarily due to the use of terror and violence.' How far do you agree with this statement?
Certainly terror and violence can be said to have played an integral part in bringing about the Nazi's consolidation of power, as violence was such an important part of Nazism and was never far from the surface. However there were also other factors such as legality, tactical alliances and the successful use of propaganda which in effect contributed a vast amount to the Nazi's consolidation of power, the Nazis deployed propaganda effectively as a means of deceiving the political nation of their real intentions and significances of their actions, which ultimately led to their consolidation of power.
Terror and violence were prominent factors in allowing the Nazis to consolidate power in 1933, for the reason that violence still had an impact on political developments, even the negotiations between Hitler, Von Papen and Hindenburg took place against the backdrop of well publicized acts of SA brutality. In May 1933 SA members stormed trade union headquarters and disbanded it. This violence led many leaders of the SPD to flee abroad and in June its party was officially banned and the 3000 that remained were arrested and a number were killed. This ultimately portrays the brutality of the Nazis, which effectively contributed to their consolidation of power. After the Reichstag fire the police were given the powers to detain suspects indefinitely without reference to the courts. The decree ‘For the protection of the people and the state’ was used to justify the arrest, imprisonment and often torture of thousands of political opponents, and on 23 March 1933 Hitler presented the Enabling Act to an intimidated Reichstag in order to consolidate Nazi power. The Reichstag passed laws which voted itself out of existence; the communists were barred from voting. The brutality of the Nazis' bought Hitler four years of a dictatorship. The Nazis managed to use terror with efficient ruthlessness and after the Enabling Act was the destruction of local state government; state

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful